Fractal
by Shyrstyne
Summary: Post KH2. Sometimes he was Sora. Sometimes he was Roxas. Sometimes... he wasn't anybody.


NOTICE: UP FOR ADOPTION- 1 FIC/PLOT BUNNY, SLIGHTLY USED. HAS DECENT PLOT PREMISE, BUT NEEDS CONTINUATION. IS HOUSE-TRAINED.

I wrote this much because I really wanted to. I didn't go any further because I don't write enough to really do any justice to it. So it's a free bunny, and you may take it as you like.

Summary: _Sometimes he was Sora, sometimes he was Roxas, and sometimes… he wasn't anybody._

**Fractal**

It was normal that day. The sky was bright, the breeze was warm, and the sun shone. The seawater flowed and the sand trickled, the trees swayed and the occasional bird flew overhead. It was normal. Normal normal normal.

Ha. What did they know about normal anymore?

"And then Wakka was all like, 'Hey, man, you can't do dat!', and I-"

This was normal. Tidus rambled and bragged. Selphi giggled and listened politely. Kairi was finishing off the last bits of ice in her slurpy, and Sora laughed along with them all.

Kairi giggled a little at something said. This was their day out. No school, no chores, nothing else needing attending to. Just them and their island. Things had changed as they got older, various adventures not withstanding. They found suddenly they had more responsibilities, more tasks and chores that needed doing, not to mention their education. Their days on the island shrank from every afternoon to every other day to weekends. Still, they went there as often as they could. They clung to their childhood as best they could even as it slipped away and new children began to craft small boats to come play on the island.

Though not all of them could come today. Wakka was at some sporting event, and Riku had off and disappeared. He did that occasionally, and they weren't particularly worried about it, though his relatives were a little concerned. It was his nature though, even without everything that had happened, for him to need some time alone to think.

"Sora?" Kairi, not realizing she had tuned out of the conversation, snapped back in as Selphi turned a worried voice to Sora.

"Hey, are you okay Sora?" Tidus made to poke the young warrior, but Kairi held up a hand. Sora did not move, did not blink. Only stared into space.

"Sora?" When she didn't get a response, Kairi became truly worried. What was going on?

"Maybe he's not feeling well?" Selphi supplied. Tidus seemed doubtful, but agreed that he couldn't think of anything else that could be wrong.

"I'll take him home," Kairi offered. "Maybe some rest will help." This was something of a lie, but Kairi couldn't think of anything else to do. There was _something_ wrong with Sora, and though she had no idea what it was, she knew for sure it wasn't because he was sick.

"You want us to help?" Selphi asked, always eager to help. Tidus nodded.

"Yeah, if he's really sick you might need help carrying him all the way to his house."

Kairi shook her head.

"No, that's all right. I'm sure we'll be fine." She made her way around the table to where Sora was still sitting silently. "Come on Sora, we're going." She said, tugging on his arm.

He stood then, sluggishly, and followed the tug of her hand as though on complete autopilot. Like he was sleepwalking.

Bidding farewell to their two friends, Kairi led Sora down the sidewalk towards home. It wasn't usually more then a ten-minute walk, but every moment that Sora said nothing only worried Kairi more.

The only person that she could think that might be able to help at all (for she was sure this was no natural ailment, something inside her stubbornly insisted that it wasn't normal) was Riku. And he was nowhere to be found!

Kairi suppressed an irritated sigh at that. Where was he anyways?

Only a block from their destination there was a sudden tug on her hand.

"Umm… aren't you Kairi?"

That was _not_ Sora's voice.

She turned around, still holding his arm, to look at him. He still looked like Sora, but his face was somber, tinged with confusion.

And his voice?

That was _Roxas_.

She was never going to get this past his mother.

What was she going to think anyways? 'Hello ma'am, I'm sorry, but your son seems to have taken a leave of absence and has been replaced by his heartless, supposedly unfeeling Nobody counterpart that was created during our two-year journey into space that we didn't tell you about because we didn't want you to freak on us.'

Yeah, that'd go over well.

And, worst-case scenario, Sora's mom would tell Riku's family (who would also freak out), who would then tell _everybody_. As much as Riku's aunts were nice people, they did not know how to keep a secret.

Everyone was sure that Riku was adopted.

Regardless, this presented a whole slew of new complications. What was she supposed to do now? She could go in and tell Sora's mother everything and hope she took it well, or…

Or what?

That didn't leave a whole lot of options.

"This is Destiny Islands, right? Sora's home." Roxas' voice pulled her out of her increasingly panicky 'what to do' self-questionnaire. She nodded in answer to his question before asking her own.

"Why are you here, I thought you became part of Sora or something."

"I don't… I don't know. Don't remember." He shook his head. "It's all a blur."

Kairi slumped a little.

"Then I guess you don't know if Sora's all right then." He shook his head again.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." He said quietly.

There was a short silence, both pondering what they were to do next. It was quiet until Roxas posed his own query, so quietly she nearly missed it.

"And… Namine?"

Kairi paused.

"She's… here, in a way. But she hasn't said anything, hasn't done anything. Like she's sleeping. But she's still here, if that's what you're wondering."

He nodded.

"Alright."

Except that it wasn't. What were they supposed to do now?

"Oh! Sora, Kairi! You're coming back early. I didn't expect you home until sundown at the least." Sora's mother smiled at them warmly. She was dressed casually, a bag in one hand. In truth, Kairi liked Sora's mother a lot. She was one of those people that you could talk to about just about anything, and had a warm motherly feel and attitude that made people gravitate towards her.

That did not mean that, as soon as she realized who it was, Kairi did not panic.

In fact, for a full five seconds, Kairi completely froze. Her brain shut down entirely, even as it tried to come up with a way to get through this without revealing anything to the woman.

Because who wants to tell someone that their kid had nearly died, died, came back to life, and was now missing in action while someone else (well, they thought so anyways) inhabited their body.

Not Kairi.

"I was just about to get some groceries. You to can let yourselves into the house and get some drinks if you like, I wont be long." She smiled again.

Kairi, breaking out of her stupor and latching onto the extra time where she could smile back, and cut off Sora's –_Roxas'_- reply before he could say anything.

"Sure, we'll do that. See you soon ma'am." Her smile and words must have been awfully forced, because his mother gave her an odd look, but did not press the issue. Waving her goodbyes and giving her son a peck on the cheek (something Sora used to complain about consistently,) Sora's mother again started her way towards the market. Kairi tugged Sor- Roxas towards the house. There was no escaping it now, if they weren't there when his mother came back, it would be suspicious. They had a finite amount of time to come up with a plan.

First thing was first, as soon as they got in the house, she was going to try and call Riku.

"Who was that?" Internally, Kairi tried not to curse that Roxas kept interrupting her planning spree, but she couldn't really fault him. His question was legitimate. Still pulling him along the last stretch of the route she looked back at him, and saw his hand at his cheek, where Sora's mother had said her goodbye.

"Sora's Mom." She said simply. She wailed internally. How was she ever going to pull this off?!

"..Oh." He said simply. Kairi couldn't understand how he could be so calm. Pulling him into Sora's house and getting some water for them both, she headed for the phone.

With any luck, Riku would be home- or at the very least, someone would know where he was.

_Ring. Ring_.

"Misuzu speaking."

"Hi Misuzu, it's Kairi. Is Riku there?" Normally she would have like to stop and chat for a few minutes, but she didn't feel as though she could spare the time before Sora's mother came back.

"Um… I think he's out back, but I'd have to check. Do you want me to get him or do you want to leave a message?"

"If you could get him would be great, but if he's not around.. I don't know. Could you check please?"

"Sure hun. I'll be right back." There was a clunk and silence. Kairi chewed on her lip, anxiously awaiting Riku's sister, or with luck, Riku himself. Leaning around the doorway to check on Roxas, she saw him studying the pictures and portraits along the wall.

"Kairi?"

"Riku!" Relief flooded through her. "I need you here. Right now."

"What? What's going on?"

"I don't know! I don't know. Sora's missing and Roxas is in his body. We're at Sora's house and his mom's coming back soon-"

"Calm down Kairi. I'll be there as soon as I can, all right? We'll work out a plan when I get there."

"… Kay."

"See you soon."

Click.

Sighing, Kairi replaced the phone on its hook, and returned to the kitchen/dining area, where Roxas was still staring at the pictures. She took a seat, and sipped at her as of yet untouched water.

"Is this his family?" Roxas asked suddenly. Looking up, Kairi affirmed it was Sora's family, albeit his extended one. Aunts, uncles, cousins and every other relation a person could think of were crammed into the small space, all smiling and laughing, as though someone had just told a great joke.

Knowing Sora's family, that was likely the case. She recalled someone telling her that the photographer that day had been very very frustrated by the time he got a shot worth keeping.

"They look nice." He said, and the wistfulness in his tone became even more pronounced. Kairi had noticed it before, but she had been too busy worrying.

Suddenly, she questioned hiding Roxas. Should she really deny him his own destiny? He had no family. His only friends were either dead or 'sleeping'… His only past was that of Organization XIII, and if things went like they had since they returned to the islands, he wouldn't have a future either.

But what about Sora?

She rested her head in her hands in despair, water forgotten. This was a mess.

"I'm back, Sora, Kairi." The cheerful voice came from the hall, and Kairi jolted upright in shock. Roxas was still in the hall!

"Hello ma'am." Kairi burst into the wide hallway just as Roxas greeted Sora's mother. The look on her face conveyed a large amount of confusion.

"'ma'am'?" She stood from her bent position of putting down the small amount of groceries. "Sora, are you feeling alright?"

"Right! That is- absolutely right. Sora wasn't feeling good, so I brought him home to rest and we're just going to get him to bed-" Kairi tried to do damage control. It wasn't working, and it fell apart entirely when Roxas resisted her tug towards the stairs.

"No, Kairi." He said.

"What do you mean 'no'?" She hissed quietly. What was he doing? He couldn't be thinking about telling to truth.. to Sora's _mom_, could he?

"You don't know Sora's coming back, and I'm not going to lie. I might have once, but I won't now."

"_Rox_-!" Her reply was cut short, by the figure still standing not a few feet away.

"Sora… Kairi… What are you talking about?" Her voice was hesitant, like she wasn't sure whether this was a joke, or if she should be truly worried as Kairi knew she had every right to be.

"I… I…" She stuttered, looking for anything to buy some time.

Riku jogging through the door temporarily saved her. He must have run all the way there to arrive so fast, and she issued a quiet thank-you to whoever might be listening.

"I came as fast as I could, Kai- I'm sorry ma'am, I'll come back later." He did an about face and started right back out the door. He didn't want to explain it any more then she did or Sora had.

"Oh no you don't!"

"Stay right there, Riku!" The simultaneous cries from both Kairi and mother stopped Riku in his tracks. Kairi looked panicked and his friend's mother just looked dangerous.

"Now." She said, "I'm going to play along. If this isn't Sora, then where is he?"

The two friends exchanged a long, apprehensive look. Looking back at Sora's mother, Kairi rubbed her arm and looked at the floor, while Riku rubbed the back of his neck and looked up and to the right, both avoiding her gaze.

"We don't know."

"And why don't you know?"

"Because I'm in his body, and he's not." Roxas spoke. Sora's mother, surprised at what he said, turned to look at him, and then looked at Kairi and Riku in turn.

"All of you- to the dining room. Where you will explain what is going on. Now."

They filed passed her obediently, and they all took seats at the rounded table.

"First of all I would like to say that if this is a joke, it's not funny. I'm usually pretty easy-going about that sort of thing, as I'm sure you two know, but not when it comes to Sora. If this is a joke, you may say so now. I won't be angry, I won't reprimand you." The taller woman said seriously. Silence met her. She sighed.

"Alright then. Explain."

So, with great reluctance, they did.


End file.
